Putting the "D" in UCD: User-Centered Design in the ThinkPad Experience Development

This article describes the application of user-centered design (UCD) principles to an existing product line in a focused attempt to reshape customers' attitudes about individual product offerings as well as the product brand as a whole. Examples of user research, design development, and validation are given to demonstrate the challenges of applying participatory design principles, and the methods used by the ThinkPad(r) UCD team to overcome those challenges. Special attention was given in three areas. First, the organizational design, or macro-UCD aspect of a successful product design effort is analyzed. Second, a mobile computer frustrations research project is reviewed as the baseline for the ThinkPad UCD effort. To address the frustrations, 4 UCD initiatives were conceived as part of a product-line redesign: a product line simplification based on common building blocks, a common user interface and aesthetic design language, a battery and power management improvement, and an intelligent user assistance architecture. Results are discussed in terms of improved brand equity, customer satisfaction, marketshare, and product cost savings. Key learning is discussed in terms of the success of the product realized through UCD as well as specific user engineering approaches that proved successful when applied to a mature commercial electronics product line.     

‘Light’ and ‘heavy’ work in the housekeeping service of a hospital

Work is organized based in part on the perceptions, by managers and workers, of workers, their abilities and the characteristics of the work to be done. Physical tasks in factories and services have often been divided into ‘light’ and ‘heavy’, a division that often corresponds formally or informally to gender. We have observed the work of cleaners on wards and in offices in an acute-care hospital, using several indicators of workload to identify and characterize typical work situations. ‘Heavy’ work was characterized by neutral postures, walking, repetitive movements involving the articulations of the upper limb pushing a 1-6 kg (wet or dry) mop, with occasional more intense effort. ‘Light’ work was characterized by flexed postures, walking, rapid repetitive movements involving the articulations of the upper limb and light weights (dusting) or 1-3 kg weights (emptying wastebaskets), with more occasional intense effort. We did not discover any compelling reason to divide cleaning into ‘light’ and ‘heavy’ work. Task assignment by sex may appear to be a solution to excessive job demands which would be better addressed by job re-design.     

Feminism asks the “Who” questions in HCI

In this brief personal essay, I describe some of the ways that feminism has influenced my life as a researcher and practitioner in HCI and CSCW - in the creation of work to be read by others, in the critical reading of works that were created by others, and in the planning and framing of practical work in enterprise workplaces. I discuss three variations of “Who” questions that feminism helps us to ask in HCI: The “who” of the identity of the user; the “who” of the identity of organizational actors; and the “who” of the practitioner or researcher.     

Algorithm for detection of the <Emphasis Type="Italic">QRS</Emphasis> complexes in the fetal ECG in the course of delivery

An algorithm for detection of the QRS complexes in the fetal ECG in the course of delivery is presented. A set of digital filters with the subsequent threshold detection of the QRS complexes and clarification of the position of the reference point is used in the algorithm. A comparison of the amplitudes of the current detected complex and a typical complex and correlation methods are employed for decreasing the noise level. The algorithm quality is experimentally estimated. Anatolii P. Nemirko. Born 1943. Graduated from the Leningrad Electrotechnical Institute in 1967. Received candidate’s degree in 1974 and doctoral degree in 1985. Professor of the St. Petersburg Electrotechnical University LETI. Scientific interests: pattern recognition, computerized signal analysis, development of biomedical computer systems. Author of more than 180 papers and eight books. Board member of the International Association for Pattern Recognition, member of editorial board of Pattern Recognition and Image Analysis. Aleksandr N. Kalinichenko. Born 1954. Graduated from the Leningrad Electrotechnical Institute in 1977. Received candidate’s degree in 1979. Associate Professor of the St. Petersburg Electrotechnical University LETI. Scientific interests: algorithms and methods for computerized analysis of biomedical signals. Author of more than 80 papers and one monograph. Roman A. Shepoval’nikov. Born 1980. Graduated from the St. Petersburg Electrotechnical University LETI in 2003. PhD student of the St. Petersburg Electrotechnical University LETI. Scientific interests: digital processing of biomedical signals and pattern recognition.     

Mining <Emphasis Type="Italic">top-k</Emphasis> frequent patterns in the presence of the memory constraint

We explore in this paper a practicably interesting mining task to retrieve top-k (closed) itemsets in the presence of the memory constraint. Specifically, as opposed to most previous works that concentrate on improving the mining efficiency or on reducing the memory size by best effort, we first attempt to specify the available upper memory size that can be utilized by mining frequent itemsets. To comply with the upper bound of the memory consumption, two efficient algorithms, called MTK and MTK_Close, are devised for mining frequent itemsets and closed itemsets, respectively, without specifying the subtle minimum support. Instead, users only need to give a more human-understandable parameter, namely the desired number of frequent (closed) itemsets k. In practice, it is quite challenging to constrain the memory consumption while also efficiently retrieving top-k itemsets. To effectively achieve this, MTK and MTK_Close are devised as level-wise search algorithms, where the number of candidates being generated-and-tested in each database scan will be limited. A novel search approach, called δ-stair search, is utilized in MTK and MTK_Close to effectively assign the available memory for testing candidate itemsets with various itemset-lengths, which leads to a small number of required database scans. As demonstrated in the empirical study on real data and synthetic data, instead of only providing the flexibility of striking a compromise between the execution efficiency and the memory consumption, MTK and MTK_Close can both achieve high efficiency and have a constrained memory bound, showing the prominent advantage to be practical algorithms of mining frequent patterns.     

Contending with Terms: “Multimodal” and “Multimedia” in the Academic and Public Spheres

Scholars have begun naming and defining terms that describe the multifaceted kinds of composing practices occurring in their classrooms and scholarship. This paper analyzes the terms “multimedia” and “multimodal,” examining how each term has been defined and presenting examples of documents, surveys, web sites and others to show when and how each term is used in both academic and non-academic/industry contexts. This paper shows that rather than the use of these terms being driven by any difference in their definitions, their use is more contingent upon the context and the audience to whom a particular discussion is being directed. While “multimedia” is used more frequently in public/industry contexts, “multimodal” is preferred in the field of composition and rhetoric. This preference for terms can be best explained by understanding the differences in how texts are valued and evaluated in these contexts. “Multimodal” is a term valued by instructors because of its emphasis on design and process, whereas “multimedia” is valued in the public sphere because of its emphasis on the production of a deliverable text. Ultimately, instructors need to continue using both terms in their teaching and scholarship because although “multimodal” is a term that is more theoretically accurate to describe the cognitive and socially situated choices students are making in their compositions, “multimedia” works as a gateway term for instructors and scholars to interface with those outside of academia in familiar and important ways.     

On the role of <Emphasis Type="Italic">a priori</Emphasis> knowledge in the optimization of quantum information processing

This paper explores the role of a priori knowledge in the optimization of quantum information processing by investigating optimum unambiguous discrimination problems for both the qubit and qutrit states. In general, a priori knowledge in optimum unambiguous discrimination problems can be classed into two types: a priori knowledge of discriminated states themselves and a priori probabilities of preparing the states. It is clarified that whether a priori probabilities of preparing discriminated states are available or not, what type of discriminators one should design just depends on what kind of the classical knowledge of discriminated states. This is in contrast to the observation that choosing the parameters of discriminators not only relies on the a priori knowledge of discriminated states, but also depends on a priori probabilities of preparing the states. Two types of a priori knowledge can be utilized to improve optimum performance but play the different roles in the optimization from the view point of decision theory.     

Stability in the domain of nonlinear difference inclusions<Superscript>1</Superscript>

The problem of establishing the sufficient conditions for robust stability in a given domain is considered for the class of nonlinear discrete systems described by a difference inclusion. The nonlinear function of the system cannot be represented in a quasilinear form, and only nonlinear constraints are specified for its values. Examples of constructive testing of the sufficient stability conditions are presented.     

Assessing the ‘insider–outsider threat’ duality in the context of the development of public–private partnerships delivering ‘choice’ in healthcare services: A sociomaterial critique

Containing the ‘outsider’ threat to the information systems of organisations as well as recognising the disruptive potential of ‘insiders’ are fundamentals of security management. However, the recent development of public–private partnerships in the UK requires a reassessment of the continuing utility of such dualities. This paper draws upon a sociological understanding of the complexities of organisational practices as well as a grounded case study of the implementation of the NHS ‘Choose and book’ service across both public and private healthcare organisations in order to challenge these essentialist forms of sociotechnical analysis. The paper proposes a sociomaterial understanding of information systems and organisational dynamics that does not seek to separate out distinct ‘human’ and ‘technical’ information security risks. Rather, it asserts that the organisational outcomes of the introduction of new information systems are necessarily emergent and contingent, and it is with these indeterminate realities that security analysts have to engage.     

“绑定中测试”“多绑一测”方式对于测试过程的影响

随着半导体工艺水平的不断发展,3D芯片技术已成为一大研究热点。"绑定中测试"环节的提出对于芯片的测试流程有了新的要求。但是,"绑定中测试""一绑一测"的特点会使部分裸片被重复测试,从而带来测试时间的增加。从"绑定中测试"的过程出发,协同考虑测试功耗与"理论制造成本"对于"绑定中测试"的影响,提出"多绑一测"的测试流程。在此基础上提出相应的广度优先遍历算法,结合ITC’02电路的相关参数,体现本文思想在实际生产制造中的现实意义。     

Checking the Satisfiability of Formulas Represented in Disjunctive Normal Form in the Language <Emphasis Type="Italic">L.</Emphasis> I

An original technique is proposed for checking the satisfiability of formulae represented in the logical language L in the form of a set of conjuncts. Satisfiability checking is performed by means of analysis and transformation of some relations defined over the set of conjuncts. __________ Translated from Kibernetika i Sistemnyi Analiz, No. 4, pp. 22–28, July–August 2005.     

基于灭点理论和平面控制场的相机标定方法研究

给出了一种基于灭点理论和平面控制场的相机解析自标定方法。在系统分析平面场景灭点几何的基础上,依据灭点理论并结合2维场景的共线方程严密论证和推导了平面控制场中相机外方位元素初值的实用算法。给出了一种圆形标志点的快速检测及定位方法,提出了一种基于计算可靠性矩阵QVVP的自检校光束法平差中各类观测值权值的确定方法。实验证明了该相机标定方法的正确性和有效性,为相机标定探索了一种可行的方法。     

Multi–objective Evolutionary Algorithms for the Risk–return Trade–off in Bank Loan Management

Multi–criteria decision–making is an increasingly accepted tool for decision–making in management. In this work, we highlight the application of a novel multi–objective evolutionary algorithm, NSGA–II, to the risk–return trade–off for a bank–loan portfolio manager. The manager of a bank operating in a competitive environment faces the standard goal of maximizing shareholder wealth. Specifically, this attempts to maximize the net worth of the bank, which in turn involves maximizing the net interest margin of the bank (among other factors, such as non–interest income). At the same time, there are significant regulatory constraints placed on the bank, such as the maintenance of adequate capital, interest–rate risk exposure, etc. The genetic algorithm–based technique used here obtains an approximation to the set of Pareto–optimal solutions which increases the decision flexibility available to the bank manager, and provides a visualization tool for one of the trade–offs involved. The algorithm is also computationally efficient and is contrasted with a traditional multi–objective function — the epsilon–constraint method.     

‘Closing the loop’ in biological systems modeling — From the in silico to the in vitro

This work presents a holistic ‘closed loop’ approach for the development of models of biological systems. The ever-increasing availability of experimental information necessitates the advancement of a systematic methodology to organise and utilise these data. Herein, we present a biological model building framework that maps the treatment of the information from the initial conception of the model, through its experimental validation and finally to its application in model-based optimisation studies. We highlight and discuss current issues associated with the development of mathematical models of biological systems and share our perspective towards a holistic ‘closed loop’ approach that will facilitate the control of the in vitro through the in silico.     

<Emphasis Type="Italic">Assessing the Impact of Input Features in a Feedforward Neural Network</Emphasis>

For a variety of reasons, the relative impacts of neural-net inputs on the output of a network’s computation is valuable information to obtain. In particular, it is desirable to identify the significant features, or inputs, of a data-defined problem before the data is sufficiently preprocessed to enable high performance neural-net training. We have defined and tested a technique for assessing such input impacts, which will be compared with a method described in a paper published earlier in this journal. The new approach, known as the ‘clamping’ technique, offers efficient impact assessment of the input features of the problem. Results of the clamping technique prove to be robust under a variety of different network configurations. Differences in architecture, training parameter values and subsets of the data all deliver much the same impact rankings, which supports the notion that the technique ranks an inherent property of the available data rather than a property of any particular feedforward neural network. The success, stability and efficiency of the clamping technique are shown to hold for a number of different real-world problems. In addition, we subject the previously published technique, which we will call the ‘weight product’ technique, to the same tests in order to provide directly comparable information.     

Modeling adaptation of breast cancer treatment decision protocols in the <Emphasis Type="SmallCaps">Kasimir</Emphasis> project

Medical decision protocols constitute theories for health-care decision making that are applicable for “standard” medical cases but have to be adapted for the other cases. This holds in particular for the breast cancer treatment protocol studied in the Kasimir research project. Protocol adaptations can be seen as knowledge-intensive case-based decision support processes. Some examples of adaptations that have been performed by oncologists are presented in this paper. Several issues are then identified that need to be addressed while trying to model such processes, namely: the complexity of adaptations, the lack of relevant information about the patient, the necessity to take into account the applicability and the consequences of a decision, the closeness to decision thresholds, and the necessity to consider some patients according to different viewpoints. As handling these issues requires some additional knowledge, which has to be acquired, different methods are presented that perform adaptation knowledge acquisition either from experts, or in a semi-automatic manner. A discussion and a conclusion end the paper.     

On the law [p∧q→r]=[(p→r)V(q→r)] in fuzzy logic

This paper deals with the logical equivalence of the classical propositional calculus [p∧q→r]=[(p→r)V(q→r)]. This equality seems to play a central role in a recent discussion around a paper of Combs and Andrews (1998). After reconsidering the equivalence in lattices, its validity in the standard theories of fuzzy sets endowed with an implication operator is studied     

Parametric optimal control problems with weighted <Emphasis Type="Italic">L</Emphasis><Subscript>1</Subscript>-norm in the cost function

In the paper, an optimal control problem with weighted L ₁-norm in the cost function is studied. The problem is considered as a parametric problem where L ₁-norm weight ratio is treated as a parameter. We analyze the dependence of solution to the mentioned optimization problem on values of the parameter. A theorem that describes properties of the solution under small parameter perturbations is proved. Differential properties of the solution are investigated. Under assumption that a solution to unperturbed problem is known, rules for construction of solutions to perturbed optimization problems are given.     

Solving the block–Toeplitz least‐squares problem in parallel

In this paper we present two versions of a parallel algorithm to solve the block–Toeplitz least‐squares problem on distributed‐memory architectures. We derive a parallel algorithm based on the seminormal equations arising from the triangular decomposition of the product T^TT. Our parallel algorithm exploits the displacement structure of the Toeplitz‐like matrices using the Generalized Schur Algorithm to obtain the solution in O(mn) flops instead of O(mn²) flops of the algorithms for non‐structured matrices. The strong regularity of the previous product of matrices and an appropriate computation of the hyperbolic rotations improve the stability of the algorithms. We have reduced the communication cost of previous versions, and have also reduced the memory access cost by appropriately arranging the elements of the matrices. Furthermore, the second version of the algorithm has a very low spatial cost, because it does not store the triangular factor of the decomposition. The experimental results show a good scalability of the parallel algorithm on two different clusters of personal computers. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.